I’ve said it maybe a million times: you will not do everything at Disney World in 1 trip.

Not even close.

It’s important to prioritize what you want to do and then have fun doing those things.

On our upcoming (and every) family trip, we have several firsts. Here’s a list of those things and how you can make them happen on your trip.

Staying at The Beach Club

Ok, yes, I stayed at The Beach Club when my mom and I went and I rented DVC points to stay in a Beach Club Villa Studio.

But….it’ll be our family’s first time staying together and we won’t be in the Villas; we’ll be in the regular rooms.

Regular Deluxe rooms are usually quite large and often include a third bed (a daybed) which will be key since we have a 5th person along on this trip.

Staying at The Beach Club also means we won’t have to wake up quite so early on EPCOT days, we have lots of Advanced Dining Reservations in the World Showcase and we need to make lots of time to enjoy the pool (Stormalong Bay).

Plus, I have a date with my husband at this Beach Club poolside bar…

When our kids were little, we hired a sitter 1 night of our trip. Now, we can stroll down to get a drink anytime we want. Having big kids is so much fun.

Mickey’s Grand Welcome

If you want to order gifts to be delivered to your Disney resort room, the only place that will actually be able to go into your room to deliver items is the Disney Florist. They can deliver flowers, balloons, etc., but they can also set up special in-room celebrations.

One of those in-room celebrations is called Mickey’s Grand Welcome. It includes a plush Minnie and Mickey, welcome banner, a personalized blanket, a picture frame, a tin full of treats, an autograph book and other miscellaneous things.

Although it’s called a “welcome,” the earliest they will come to your room is the 2nd night of your trip. You can find out more info (including the price that I won’t include here because you’ll judge me) on the Disney Florist site.

Tomorrowland Terrace Fireworks Dessert Party

When you’re planning dining reservations, you know that they will open up 180 days before your trip so you know when you’ll be able to make them.

Getting reservations at the Tomorrowland Terrace Fireworks Dessert Party isn’t so predictable. Reservations open up a month or two in advance and the most reliable way to know when they have opened is by following this thread on DISboards.com.

This event begins about an hour before Wishes fireworks begin. Seating is assigned based on when the reservation was made. Guests get to eat at a buffet of desserts and then have reserved seating on the terrace for when the fireworks begin.

Here’s the view of the fireworks from this spot.

Read this complete review from EasyWDW, including lots of pics of the desserts and restaurant.

Our kids don’t know we’re doing this so it’ll be a nice surprise. My daughter’s favorite thing is chocolate-covered strawberries and I’m betting she’ll eat the equivalent of the ticket price.

Eating dinner at Be Our Guest

I’ve had lunch a couple of times at the Be Our Guest restaurant in the New Fantasyland section of Magic Kingdom because it’s a Quick Service location for lunch. We had to line up around 10:30 to get in before the line grew too long but it’s a great place and currently my favorite Quick Service location.

Side note: I don’t recommend it for families who are visiting for the first time because it takes such a large chunk of time from your morning. For first-timers who want to eat there for lunch, I recommend going after the lunch rush around 2:00 so you don’t miss out on morning touring.

Eating there at dinner is a different story since it becomes a Table Service restaurant for dinner and that requires an Advanced Dining Reservation (ADR). This is most likely the hardest ADR to get in all of Disney World right now and will require you to make it 180 days in advance.

If you’re staying on-site, you can take advantage of the 180 days + 10 which will increase your odds of getting a reservation. To understand how that works, watch this video where I explain.

Since I know it’s a great place for lunch, I’m excited to try it out for dinner.

Our quest to be Family of the Day at Magic Kingdom

My daughter has a goal for us to be picked as Family of the Day at Magic Kingdom. Being chosen as Family of the Day means you’re allowed into the park early for a tour, get a private meet-and-greet with lots of characters and then ride the train to the front of the park to take part in the opening ceremony.

Getting picked takes a stroke of luck but there are some things that seem to help:

• Arriving early, VERY early. We plan to be there about an hour or more before the park opens.
• Wearing Disney clothing. I bought these matching t-shirts from 80sTees.com which are soft and look authentically vintage.

  

• Being enthusiastic and friendly. Cast Members who choose families want to know that they’ll be excited about participating in the ceremony.
• Having a mom, dad and 2 young kids seems to help but I’ve seen families outside of that description get picked as well. The shortest member of our group is 5’2″ so we’re definitely lacking in little ones but we’re going to give it a try anyway.

For more info and stories, check out the Williams Family blog. They’ve been chosen for just about everything and have some great tips on how they did it.

Doing Universal

In all of our trips to Orlando, we’ve never ventured outside of Disney World. By request of my whole family, we’re doing a few days at Universal on this trip.

If you have never been to Disney World and you’re feeling overwhelmed, I can totally identify with you right now. I feel totally out of my element on this one.

Some things that I know we’re doing:

• We are staying on-site in Portofino Bay Hotel. On-site guests get Front of Line access to rides that have it available which is even better than a FastPass.
• TouringPlans.com just started offering touring plans for Universal which I plan to use as a good guide.
• I don’t know what else. I should probably work on this.

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What new or special things will you do on your trip? Have any advice on doing Universal? Let me know below.

So you’ve planned your trip during a time that’s less busy and less expensive but…you’re traveling to Florida at the same time that the hurricanes are.

In fact, AccuWeather is predicting that there will be 8 hurricanes this year and has specifically said that Florida could be hit directly.

Florida is long overdue for a direct hurricane hit, according to AccuWeather meteorologist Dan Kottlowski. Though the state has been hit by named tropical storms in the past couple of years, he says, a direct hit by a hurricane has not occurred since Hurricane Charley in 2004.

Although June – November is officially considered hurricane season, most activity takes place in August, September and October.

Here’s what to do if you’re traveling during that time.

By the time a hurricane makes its way inland toward Orlando, it is considered a storm since it is slowed down by land.

If you’re already at Disney World, you will likely be able to head indoors to wait it out. DisneyQuest is a popular place to spend time inside, but it could get crowded really fast.

Other things to do indoors:

• Arcades. These are found at almost every Disney resort.
• Shop. If you went into World of Disney at 10 a.m., you could stay until 5 p.m. and still not have seen everything.
• Kids clubs. In the evening, the Disney World kids clubs provide child care but during the day, they are often open for parents to visit with their kids and do arts/crafts, watch a Disney movie, etc. Kids clubs at Disney World include:
  • Simba’s Clubhouse at Animal Kingdom Lodge
  • Never Land Club at The Polynesian
  • Cub’s Den at Wilderness Lodge
  • Sandcastle Club at The Beach Club
  • Camp Dolphin at The Dolphin Hotel

During a hurricane in 2004, Disney World held movie marathons and provided sandwich buffets while guests remained indoors.

Disney World hasn’t had to close often due to hurricanes but it has happened twice:

• In 2004, a hurricane virtually destroyed 2 hotels in Downtown Disney. One of those didn’t reopen until 2010. Guests had to stay inside their hotels for up to 3 days.
• In 2005, Hurricane Wilma hit the parks, causing them to close for a day.

If you are at home just before a hurricane, you can possibly cancel your hotel reservation and reschedule for a later date. You can read Disney’s full hurricane policy at https://disneyworld.disney.go.com/faq/hurricane-policy/.

It’s important to note that you will only be able to cancel or get assistance with the part that you booked through Disney which usually doesn’t include flights. For that reason, I recommend purchasing trip insurance if you’re traveling in August, September or October. In fact, the only time I’ve purchased trip insurance was for a cruise and when traveling to Disney World in October.

You can research trip insurance options using InsureMyTrip.com to compare various plans. If you choose to get trip insurance, you should buy it within 14 days of paying the deposit on your trip to make sure you get maximum coverage.

Here’s what my results looked like when I searched:

You can expect to pay roughly $200 on a $5000 trip. Although there’s a good chance your trip plans won’t be affected by a hurricane, it’s worth it to me for the peace of mind and to help to make your trip stress-free.

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Planning to get trip insurance? Ever had to use it to cover expenses on a trip? I’d love to hear your thoughts below.

Just over a year ago, my husband asked what I wanted to do for Mother’s Day. I told him I wanted to launch a Disney World website.

And so I did.

It might sound like a strange request but it had been my dream for years so my husband wasn’t surprised.

As of today, the site is exactly 1 year old.

It’s been a crazy ride and more fulfilling than just about anything else I’ve ever done.

Here are some tidbits about the first year…

The stats

• There have been over 560,000 visits with more than 1.1 million (!) pageviews
• Visitors come from 3 main sources (roughly 1/3 of traffic from each)
  • Direct (they type the URL in the browser)
  • Google searches
  • Referrals from other sites
• Of the referral sites, Pinterest is the biggest by far

Of the non-social media referral sites, the sites that send the most people here are:

• DISboards.com – hey DISers!
• The Counting Coconuts blog – a woman named Mari-Ann runs this site and gets really into Disney World planning. She listed my site as 1 of her favorites and lots of people came here to check it out.
• Palmettos and Pigtails blog – Shara runs this site whose tagline is “a southern mama’s thoughts.” She shared her favorite resources for Disney World planning as well as many tips (she has lots of good ones).
• KennythePirate.com (where he has me listed on his list of sites that he recommends) – Kenny and I are blogging buddies. I send traffic to him (I don’t know much about characters and I know many of you want that info so he’s the guy to go to) and he sends people my way as well.

Most popular posts

It’s hard to predict what’s going to strike a chord with people. Some of these I thought would do well but some totally shocked me.

The top 5 posts of the year are….

#5 It’s a tie: About the Disney Dining Plan (this has had a recent surge with so many people looking for Free Dining promo info) and 10 things most Disney World first-timers don’t know


#4 Peek inside my Disney World binder + 100 free downloads – this post took 20 hours to put together due to the research and formatting involved so it’s really nice to see that people are finding it useful


#3 The Ultimate Disney World Packing List – I’ve been using a list like this for about 9 years. It helps keep me from constantly wondering if I forgot to pack something.


#2 20 unique Disney World souvenir ideas – so many options outside of the normal gift shops. Glad so many people have gotten ideas here.


And the #1 most popular post by a landslide is… The pros/cons of every Disney World resort – this shocked me. I had no idea it would be so popular. Many planning sites often just share the “pros” side of it so I think people liked reading the “cons” as well.

Some things you may not know about me

• I work a full-time corporate job as well as running the site. The site takes about the same number of hours per week as my day job so “tired” is my normal state right now.
• 1 of the reasons the site takes so many hours is that each post takes an average of 10 hours to put together. The Pros/cons of every Disney World resort post took about 15 hours and trip plans often take about that amount of time as well (though some posts take less). The research and formatting and all of that is very time-consuming but totally worth it so that the information is easier to read and learn from.
• Another reason it takes so many hours to run is that the behind-the-scenes technical stuff takes a lot of time. Everything from changing hosting companies to installing new functionality to troubleshooting issues has to be done but isn’t super obvious to readers that any of that is going on.
• I will probably be visiting Disney World 5 times this year but…I get to go to a lot of other places as well. I love the world outside of Disney World just as much but no other destinations are as fun to plan.

What’s coming up in the 2nd year?

Oh, big plans coming up for this next year. Those plans include…

• A podcast! I want to launch a podcast. Podcasts play on my phone all day every day but there aren’t many Disney World ones that I really love. I can’t wait to get started.
• First premium product will be released. All info on the site is free but I’m going to spend some time putting together some products that people can buy that will offer even more info and convenience.

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Thank you for your support and for being here. Messages from readers have made me teary-eyed on many occasions (the good kind of tears) and it is extremely fulfilling to know that I’m helping people have better trips.

Do you have any questions for me? Comments? Let me know below.

I look forward to the next year here with you.

Up until a couple of years ago, you could collect FastPasses all day and Disney was very liberal about allowing you to return way past the return window.

That policy changed and Disney theme parks now enforce the return time. This minimizes the number of FastPasses you can hold at any given time but there is a trick that will allow you to get multiple FastPasses at the same time.

Here’s how.

In order to keep track of visitors’ FastPasses, most of the FastPass machines are connected to a network. This network checks to make sure you’ve entered the park that day (which is why 1 person from your group can’t take all of the tickets into the park to get FastPasses. You have to have entered the park to get a FastPass.)

The network also checks to see when you got your last FastPass so it knows if it’s time to issue you another one. Trying to get a FastPass before it’s time will usually result in the machines spitting out a “Not a valid FastPass” ticket instead of a real FastPass.

But here’s a little secret…

Some of the FastPass machines are disconnected from the network (or just go by unique rules). They operate differently than the other machines and don’t care what else you’ve done at other machines.

That means you can get FastPasses at those attractions any time you want and without waiting for your window to open up.

Although the list of disconnected FastPass machines changes from time to time, these are the machines that are disconnected right now:

• Town Square Mickey Mouse Meet and Greet
• Dumbo
• Barnstormer

That means that you could potentially hold 4 sets of FastPasses at the same time if you pull all 3 of those plus 1 from a connected attraction.

You still have to return during your window so be aware of that and make sure your plan allows you to be back when you are supposed to.

If you want to be Super Commando FastPass Getter, you could do this after you arrive.

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Have questions about how FastPasses work? Or other tips on how to maximize them? Leave a comment and let me know.

I’m so happy to finally be hitting publish on some custom maps that I hope will be super useful to you.

My goal is for you to have one 8.5×11 piece of paper that you can take into each of the Disney World parks containing all of the info you’ll need for that day.

No more unfolding maps, referencing multiple files for info, or looking back and forth between the map and key.

These maps are free for you to download and have lots of good info in them.

Here are the features of the maps:

• When to visit each attraction
• Good parade and fireworks viewing spots
• Suggested places to eat
• PDF version has an editable section so you can add whatever info you’d like – your touring plan, dining info, etc.
• Add info to the print-quality JPG version in your image editing program
• Use the QR codes to save the maps to your phone

Here’s a preview of each and then you can download all 8 files at the bottom of this post.

How to use the maps

In the zip file below, there are 2 file formats to choose from – PDF or print-quality JPG. Each PDF file has an editable section where you can add notes. Just open the PDF, click in the white box and type whatever you want. Save the PDF and your notes will be saved with it.

The JPG file is just an image file which can be used however you’d like, including in an image-editing program to add your own notes to it.

I made a video showing how to use both types.

Download the files

The zip file below has all 8 files in it.

Download the maps (15 MB zip file)

You can also scan these QR codes to save the map images to your phone.

Magic Kingdom map	Epcot map
Animal Kingdom map	Hollywood Studios map

 
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Questions? Thoughts? Feedback? Let me know!

Last time I visited Disney World, people kept asking why I didn’t write a trip report. I’m not sure why I didn’t, but this time I’m writing one right away before I forget all of the details.

All 3600 words worth of details.

Soooo….remember how I wrote about doing Disney World with uncooperative people? I thought my mom was going to be one of those people because getting up early to ride roller coasters didn’t seem like it was going to be her thing.

I was wrong.

Here’s how our trip went…

Friday, April 26

After work, my mom and I both boarded flights from the cities where we live (she lives in Kansas City and I live near Dallas). Our flight times were about the same and we landed within 30 minutes of each other.

I told her to meet me in the main building at Orlando International Airport after riding the tram from her arrival gate and I’d be right there before she went to the baggage claim area.

1 small problem with that arrangement: there are 2 escalators down into the baggage claim area. I was at 1 and she was at the other.

Eventually, I found her and also found our driver, Marlow from Happy Limousine (we had a car, not a limo), and we were on our way to Disney World.

Drivers always amuse me with their info and Marlow let us know that Orlando is not busy at all in the summer because nobody wants to travel to hot Florida in the summertime.

Somebody should probably alert Disney to this fact because their prices seem to say something different.

After first accidentally taking us to The Yacht Club, we eventually got to our hotel – The Beach Club Resort.

We were instantly in love with this resort. It looks beautiful, it smells good, the people are so nice. It was just a great place to stay.

We got checked in quickly and we were off to our Studio in the Beach Club Villas section.

We passed these flowers on the way and I’ve never, ever smelled a flower better than these. It was like bouquets of perfume every time we walked by them. Anybody know what these are?

It was around 1:30 a.m. by the time we got settled in and ready to sleep. I didn’t have high expectations for the following morning since we were getting to bed so late.

Saturday, April 27

To my surprise, my mom started getting up around 8:30 on Saturday morning. Since we were just an 8 minute walk from the International Gateway entrance to Epcot, I knew we would actually be able to fit in a full day that day.

By the time we got to Epcot, it was probably around 9:30 or 9:40 which isn’t too shabby.

I’m always surprised when I do dumb things when I should know better. As we were walking to the International Gateway, I couldn’t figure out which path to take from the walkway into Epcot. There was a smallish, unassuming path that we saw but I couldn’t believe 1.) it was so close to our hotel and 2.) that it wasn’t labeled as being the path to Epcot at all.

To make things even worse, I’ve stayed at The Boardwalk before and walked this path many times. At what age can I start claiming senior moments?

We headed right for Soarin’ to pick up FastPasses for later and then walked to Sum of All Thrills.

At this point, I wasn’t sure what my mom would be willing to ride so I decided to just proceed like I normally would and get a feel for her comfort level.

We got in line at Sum of All Thrills (if we’d been here shortly after park opening, the line would’ve been much shorter).

My mom chose to design a bobsled (“I’ve always wanted to ride a bobsled!” she said). She ended up loving this attraction but just thought the ride itself should be longer.

My mom sat down to take a short break from standing while I ran to get a set of FastPasses for Test Track. There was a line about 12 people deep to get FastPasses so it took a couple minutes of waiting to reach the machine. The people in front of me pulled “not a valid FastPass” tickets because they were already holding a set. This happened a lot. Keep an eye on those times, people.

We headed off to Mission: Space where we rode the less intense version. My mom doesn’t have a big problem with motion sickness so she was fine on this ride. (Tip: just look forward on this ride. If you try to look around to the side of you, there’s a good chance you’ll end up feeling nauseous.)

After Mission: Space, we went to the HGTV Designer’s Stage which is nearby. Carter Oosterhouse was scheduled to appear and my mom was suuuuper excited to see him.

I soon discovered that this place was a magnet for baby boomers so I’m sure my mom felt right at home.

Carter was charming and provided some good tips.

By now, we were getting hungry and it was about time to use our Soarin’ FastPasses. We headed for The Land pavilion to do both.

Sunshine Seasons is a fantastic Quick Service restaurant but always seems hectic and busy. I found a table for us while my mom went to find some lunch for herself. We were using The Dining Plan and this was the first time she was purchasing a meal with her credits but she figured it out easily and we switched while I grabbed my food. Mom loved eating here. It’s a great use of a Quick Service credit.

With just 10 minutes left on our FastPass return window, we proceeded to the Soarin’ FastPass return line.

I have this thing with Soarin’ where I have often sat next to a first-timer who wasn’t sure what to expect and they often will say “wowwww!” as soon as it begins and then I get a little teary-eyed because I’m a sap and I love seeing first-timers happy.

My mom loves California and had never been on this ride so I fully expected something similar.

Conversations after she rode it would often go like this:

Me: so did you like Soarin’?
Mom: ummm….remind me again which one was Soarin’?
Me: The one that soars over California.
Mom: oh, yeah.

Soooo…not quite the reaction I had imagined but that’ll teach me to set my expectations too high.

After Soarin’, we went to The Seas pavilion where my mom was looking forward to seeing the aquarium.

I have this thing where I don’t like to view animals that are being held in cages. It’s not always a moral issue that I have; it’s just that I think it’s much more interesting observe them in their natural habitat.

Because of that, I’d never really spent much time at The Seas other than to see Turtle Talk with Crush.

Mom wanted to see some of the aquarium so we spent time doing that which was fun.

We happened to be there when they were doing a dolphin demonstration.

We decided to check out the Imagination pavilion next. We rode Journey Into Imagination with Figment and then lined up to watch Captain EO.

My mom and I saw Michael Jackson in concert around the same time that Captain EO was made so I knew she’d love seeing this. We just wish we could skip to the end where there’s more dancing and singing and less ridiculous animals.

Oh, and I wish we hadn’t been in the front row. Never sit in the front row.

It was time to use our Test Track FastPasses so were back to the other side of Future World again. The FastPass line used to bypass the design portion of this ride but now you get to do that as well if you use FastPasses.

Not that it matters. It’s pretty ridiculous.

Spaceship Earth was next on the agenda. Although there was a bit of a line, it almost always moves quickly since it’s a continuously loading ride.

That is, unless the line comes to a complete stop 30 feet before you are supposed to get on it. Hypothetically.

I don’t know why the line stopped but after a little bit, it started moving again and we were on. I like this ride.

We appeared up on the screens after the ride…

On our way to the World Showcase for dinner, I had to take my mom by Club Cool to sample some different sodas from other places.

Of course I had her try the Beverly. I just wish my camera had worked quickly enough to record her reaction.

After leaving the place my mom kept saying was “so sticky,” we walked our way toward the Morocco pavilion of the World Showcase for our dinner reservation at Restaurant Marrakesh.

I’m going to just go ahead and say that I think this is 1 of the most underrated restaurants at Disney World. It was just delicious.

We ordered the mint tea to drink, Morrocan Salad Combo as an appetizer (not included on Dining Plan) and shish kebabs for dinner, followed by baklava and something else that I can’t remember the name of for dessert. Highly recommended.

Afterward, we explored the World Showcase a bit and watched a concert put on by former members of ELO (now called “The Orchestra”)…

Can I just say….they sounded really, really good. They still got it.

As it got close to 9, we found a spot sitting on the patio next to the Yorkshire County Fish Shop in the UK section of the World Showcase to watch Illuminations. The smoke blows this direction during the show so be aware of that.

One of the perks of staying at The Beach Club is that while hoards of people were flooding out the front gates of Epcot, we got to walk just a few minutes to our hotel room. After being up late and having a full day at Epcot, we were exhausted.

We got to bed and rested up for our big day at Magic Kingdom.

Sunday, April 28

I set my alarm so we could get up and head to the bus stop by 8 but wasn’t quite sure if that was overly optimistic of me. My alarm went off and BAM! my mom was up and opening the curtains to allow some light in and she was READY.

So we made it to the bus stop and arrived at Magic Kingdom by about 8:20 or so. We were positioned where we could sit on a bench near a tree while we waited but we were close to the front so we could get into the park easily once it opened.

The opening show was performed (was so happy to see a Family of the Day that wasn’t the typical mom, dad, little boy, little girl) and we were off to Enchanted Tales with Belle.

Now, my mom had told me that she wasn’t interested in doing little kid stuff but I really wanted her to see the “best of the best” at the parks so I decided to take her on my normal plan. Skipping some of the little kid things first thing would mean really long lines later so I decided to go ahead and do some of that first thing like I normally would.

So we had a short wait at Enchanted Tales with Belle and I’m glad she got to see the awesome technology used on this attraction and it’s cute to watch other people’s little kids have fun.

Then it was Journey of the Little Mermaid, I grabbed FastPases for Peter Pan, then we rode Pooh, Haunted Mansion and Peter Pan with FastPasses.

At this point, it was about 10:45 and we headed to get in line at Be Our Guest for lunch. We only waited a few minutes before they started to let people in.

I really, really like this as a Quick Service meal and my mom did as well. It’s a beautiful place, good food and as my mom kept saying “it just seems so calm.” Although you could be seated in the main dining room with lots and lots of people, there’s just a calmness to it that is kind of relaxing.

After lunch, we walked toward the area where Splash Mountain is located because I knew my mom wanted to do that. She saw Big Thunder Mountain Railroad and said “oh, I want to do that too!”

She had told me previously that she didn’t want to do anything that jerked her around because she was afraid it would hurt her neck. Her willingness to do BTMRR was a preview of bigger things to come.

Unfortunately, BTMRR was closed due to technical issues. We grabbed FastPasses for Splash and right after that, they closed Splash due to some issues. Yikes.

My intention was to ride Pirates of the Caribbean and Jungle Cruise while we waited for our FP return time but instead we rode those things and then headed to Tomorrowland.

I grabbed FastPasses for Buzz and then we got in line for Monsters, Inc., Laugh Floor. I decided to check the Disney World app to see the status of Splash and BTMRR. They were both now open. Super convenient now that we were on the other side of the park.

We saw Monsters, Inc., Laugh Floor, rode Buzz with FastPasses and then we were back in Frontierland to 1.) get FastPasses for BTMRR and 2.) use our FastPasses on Splash. Although our FP return time was long past, you’re allowed to use them if the ride was closed during your return time.

We went to Aloha Isle to get a Dole Whip Float (GREAT use of snack credit) which is a longer line than most attractions. Maybe they’ll install a FP someday.

After this long line, it was finally time to use our Big Thunder Mountain FastPasses. This would be my mom’s first “jerky” ride so I was a little nervous.

She loved it.

I thought we would be leaving the park by now but she decided that she was going to ride Space Mountain, the ride she’d told me she remembered hating because it jerked her around so much in 1990.

Soooo….back to Tomorrowland for Space FPs and we killed time by riding the Tomorrowland Transit Authority (TTA) and attending a dance party.

My mom totally knows Miley and Bieber songs.

We rode Space (she liked it!) and then it was finally time to head back to our hotel.

We had about 45 minutes or so in our room to get ourselves cleaned up and changed for dinner.

We had dinner at our hotel at Cape May Cafe which is a seafood buffet.

Confession: Although I eat a lot of different kinds of food, I’ve never known how to eat a lot of seafood that requires some work to get to the edible part.

I decided to try a little bit of everything and I watched a kid who looked about 9 years old to see how he was eating his seafood. He was a pro and I learned how to eat my seafood from him.

Before that, we started with the lobster chowder which was absolutely delicious. And then the gross-looking seafood that leaves shells all over the table, followed by adorable desserts.

We really liked eating at Cape May Cafe. Highly recommend it.

We spent the rest of the evening walking around the Boardwalk area. We walked past a wedding reception (you can see the wedding/reception pics at http://web.stagram.com/tag/scottandkait2013), showed my mom the inside of The Boardwalk Inn and then we went to Jellyrolls dueling piano bar.

Not too long after we sat down and ordered a drink, 1 of the piano players invited a couple to come on stage and dance to a song. I kept saying to my mom “he’s going to propose!” and then he really did.

After spending a bit of time there and hearing the song we requested, we made our way back to our hotel to get to bed and ready for another park day.

Monday, April 29

This day we headed for the park that is my least favorite to plan – Hollywood Studios. The prevalence of shows makes it hard to make a plan ahead of time.

We didn’t arrive until about 8:30 (I had hoped for 8:15) and then we were in a line with a bag checker who liked to talk and talk and talk so it was probably 8:45 when we got into the park (which opens earlier than the posted 9:00 opening time).

We headed straight for Toy Story Mania which had about a 15 minute line by the time we got there. Not terrible but no wait is even better.

At this point, I told my mom we’d head toward the Rock n Roller Coaster and Tower of Terror area and she could let me know what she felt like doing. We walked onto Rock n Roller Coaster and given how she was previously freaked out about riding Space Mountain, I was shocked she was doing this ride. She liked it.

There was a bit of a posted wait on Tower of Terror at this point so I grabbed a set of FastPasses (in hindsight, we probably should’ve just ridden it right then to prevent so much zig-zagging across the park) and then walked toward Star Tours.

We rode Star Tours, saw MuppetVision, went to Backlot Tour (a 45 minute commitment but they ushered us past the demonstration at the beginning so it was a bit shorter) and then it was time for Tower of Terror.

Mom was a little anxious about this and ended up a bit nauseous afterward. After a short time, she was fine again and we were off to our lunch reservation at Prime Time Cafe.

Something you should know about me: I hate being yelled at. When we were in Chicago last summer, I sat outside The Wiener Circle and had my husband bring my hot dog to me, lest they yell at me. I really, really hate it.

So going into Prime Time Cafe had me a tiny bit anxious.

My mom loved the decor because it reminded her of her childhood and the food was plentiful and tasty.

We got the sampler and highly recommend the brisket which was 1 of the entrees we got to sample.

The dessert menu is on a ViewMaster…

…and the dessert is HUGE.

After lunch, we opted to head out to spend the afternoon by the pool at our hotel. Sure, there was plenty more we could’ve done at Hollywood Studios but visiting Disney World is all about prioritizing. We decided pool time was more important than staying at Hollywood Studios.

We floated in the lazy river section of the pool, went down the big water slide (even my mom!), swam in the pool and just had a bit of down time for awhile.

We got ourselves showered and dressed for dinner which was at Chefs de France in Epcot.

We started with soup (French onion and lobster bisque)…

…moved on to salmon and short ribs for our entrees…

…and finished with creme brulee, chocolate mousse and a latte for dessert.

My mom didn’t like her salmon but she doesn’t blame that on the restaurant. She hadn’t eaten salmon much and thought she’d give it a try and decided she’s probably just not a salmon person.

We took the time after dinner to explore some more countries in the World Showcase, including riding the rides in Norway and Mexico and then headed over to Test Track during Illuminations since there’s no line at that time.

At this point, my mom knew that the interactive parts of this ride are ridiculous so she decided to have a little fun with it and designed a red dinosaur-looking car in an Asian language (sorry, I don’t know which specific language this is – anybody know?).

People were flooding out out the park now that Illuminations was over and….it was raining. We ran across the park with an umbrella and got back to our hotel to dry off and rest up for our final day.

Tuesday, April 30

The plan for today was to get up and spend a half day at Animal Kingdom before leaving to go home.

When my alarm went off that morning, not only was it raining pretty hard but my mom didn’t hear it go off either time. She’d been getting up right away up until now so I made the decision to shut the alarm off and go back to bed since I guessed she would appreciate the extra sleep.

We woke up a couple of hours later and opted to get packed up, have our bags held at the hotel and then go back to the World Showcase to finish visiting the rest of the countries.

My mom really liked the Voices of Liberty and the American Adventure show which follows their performance…

We allowed just enough time for ourselves to visit the Beaches and Cream Soda Shop at our hotel to use our last snack credits on an ice cream cone.

Our driver arrived and it was time to head to the airport. Lines at the airport were long everywhere (on a Tuesday afternoon during a non-peak time of year) so be sure to leave yourself plenty of time so you’re not stressed trying to make your flight.

About The Beach Club Resort

We loved staying here. The location is perfect for getting to Epcot, there’s easy access to lots of restaurants (in the World Showcase or the Boardwalk), the pool is fantastic, the people who work there are friendly and the other people who were staying here when we were seemed really nice.

Some pics…

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I had no idea how this trip would go but it couldn’t have gone any better. How often do you get to spend several days 1-on-1 with your mom when you’re grown and have your own family? And doing it at Disney World made it that much better.

I hope we get to do it again someday.

After being on every other platform, there is finally a WDW Prep Facebook page. Let’s kick things off with a fun contest. You can even enter right on the site.

Use the space below to Like the WDW Prep page, then enter your email address (it will only be used to notify you if you win) and then you can share with your Facebook friends for more entries.

Super easy. Play once a day through Sunday.

Ready, set, go!

I’ve always done Disney World with people who who were fully on board with how I plan and really like the way I do things.

We get up early, get to the bus stop at 8, enter the parks when they open, tour according to a plan, take afternoon breaks, etc.

I often get emails from people asking me how to do Disney World with people who aren’t into this style of touring. I never really had an answer to that since I’d never had to think about it.

Until now.

Here’s why…

This Friday, I leave for a 4 day trip to Disney World with my mom. I planned all of the details to make it as easy for her as possible – direct flights, automatic check-in on Southwest Airlines (which includes 2 free bags so she doesn’t have to worry about that), a driver to take us to our hotel, dining plan, etc.

Easy, right?

Except that she likes to research and provide input, too, and I’ve basically made all of the decisions so far.

My mom and I in a tram inside the St. Louis Arch (a tornado warning was issued while we were inside – in December!)

I appreciate that she has researched and has some ideas about what she wants to do but I just figured she’d defer to me since this is kind of my thing. It may not work out that way and I don’t feel comfortable dictating how everything will work.

I wouldn’t say my mom is fighting against my methods; she just has some ideas and may not be able to do things I always have such as waking up early to be at the parks when they open (she has had some health problems which make mornings difficult).

Soooo…..I have had to make some adjustments. Here are some tips for dealing with a less-than-ideal situation.

Visit during a less busy time

My mom and I will be visiting during the last part of April which isn’t very busy. Visiting during a less busy time gives you lots more flexibility since you aren’t fighting the crowds.

The busier the parks are, the more crucial it is to have a plan and stick to it.

The very first step in my 6 step planning process is about picking a good date and includes links to charts that can help you find a less busy time to visit.

If you can, pick a week that won’t be crowded to allow for more flexibility in your plans.

Be prepared with a flexible touring plan

Most touring plans are written with the assumption that you’ll begin touring as soon as the park opens. If you arrive an hour after the park opens and start using a touring plan from the beginning, it won’t work.

Instead, break your touring plans down based on the hour you arrive so you know when to jump in. The things that you “missed” by arriving later can be done using FastPasses (if they’re available on that attraction).

For example, a breakdown at EPCOT would look something like this:

Breaking it down this way allows you to see where to jump in when you do arrive. Let’s say you arrive at 10:00 and you wouldn’t have ridden Soarin’, Sum of All Thrills, or obtained FastPasses for Test Track.

When you arrive at 10:00, you’d want to grab a set of FastPasses right away. Soarin’ is located closest to The Seas and would be the easiest to grab. You’d just want to fit those missed attractions into your day, preferably with FastPasses.

Let’s look at Magic Kingdom….

In this case, let’s say you arrived at 11:00, you could jump right into grabbing FPs for Big Thunder, riding Splash, etc., and then loop back to some of the things you missed earlier (most of the things you would have “missed” have FPs but Enchanted Tales with Belle doesn’t as of right now but lines do die down later in the day).

And Animal Kingdom…

The two main attractions that require FPs at Animal Kingdom are Expedition Everest and Kilimanjaro Safaris so be sure to make that the goal at whatever time you arrive. Expedition Everest does have a single rider line which allows you to ride quickly and may be a good alternative.

A Hollywood Studios plan…

Hollywood Studios often opens around 8:30 even when the posted time is 9:00 so it’s really beneficial to arrive early.

Hollywood Studios is tricky because the first hour is super important due to really long waits on Toy Story Mania PLUS there are a lot of shows to schedule around. Arriving late will not affect your ability to see shows (which is good news) but you will want to get FPs for Toy Story Mania ASAP and fit those popular rides in as you can.

Going to a park on the “wrong” day

Step 3 in my planning process is to make a daily plan based on which parks are expected to be busiest each day of your trip.

You might be traveling with someone who thinks differently and reallllly wants to go to Magic Kingdom on the first day of your trip even if it’s not recommended.

I can totally understand that; so many people can’t wait to see the castle and really want to go there first.

Don’t panic. Park choice for each day of your trip isn’t nearly as important as having a good touring plan.

If you do have any say over the park choice, I would strongly recommend avoiding the park that has Extra Magic Hours in the morning since you would likely be showing up after that and have to deal with the increased crowds.

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What about you? Are you traveling with people who aren’t on board with waking up early? Or maybe even don’t want a touring plan? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

One of the things that people often ask is “when is the best time to visit Disney World?”

What they often mean is “how do I avoid dying of heat exhaustion?”

Unfortunately, the times when most people can visit happens to be in the summer when school is out of session and it’s really, really hot.

Here are tips on how to do Disney World without melting…

Start early, leave after lunch

I’ve said this a million times, but you should always arrive at the parks before they open so that you can begin touring as soon as possible. Not only will this allow you to tour when the parks are less crowded, but this will also allow you to tour before the temps are at their highest.

Just as the parks start to get really crowded and the temps get near the max for the day, you should leave. I usually recommend leaving just after lunch to take a break from walking, heat and crowds.

Go inside

My son hates to be hot more than anything else in the world. He complains about most places we visit because it’s often uncomfortably warm at some point. He doesn’t usually complain at Disney World which was confusing to me. I asked him why and he said it’s because we alternate between outside and inside so he feels like he gets enough breaks from the heat.

Every park has things that are inside and air conditioned which will allow you to escape the heat for a bit. Most of the shows are inside and can be a nice break (and/or nap). Many rides are inside as well and don’t have long lines outside.

Some ideas for inside attractions with moderate lines to visit at each park to get a break from the heat:

Magic Kingdom

• Carousel of Progress – almost never a line and the attraction lasts a long time, giving you a nice break in the AC
• Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor Factory – shows run continuously, most of the line is inside
• The Hall of Presidents – waiting is inside the building and the show is just over 20 minutes
• Mickey’s PhilharMagic – this inside 4D show is worth seeing for everybody. If there is a line (often there isn’t), it has a FastPass so you can come back later and avoid the line.

EPCOT

• Almost everything. Spaceship Earth lines are outside but it’s really easy to avoid lines by riding it in the afternoon or evening.

Hollywood Studios

• The Great Movie Ride
• All attractions in the Animations Courtyard area – Voyage of the Little Mermaid, The Magic of Disney Animation, Disney Junior Live on Stage, Walt Disney: One Man’s Dream

Animal Kingdom

A lot of people have observed that Animal Kingdom often feels much hotter than the other parks and it wasn’t until I was writing this post that I realized 1 reason for that: there’s not much chance to escape the outdoors. Some of the attractions are inside (Festival of the Lion King, Finding Nemo – The Musical) but all of the lines are outside.

Take advantage of shady spots, the indoor shops and restaurants to cool off (even some of the restaurants have outdoor seating so pick one that’s inside if you want air conditioning).

Personal fans

At the parks, you will see lots of spray misting fans for sale. Although they seem expensive, they work really well. You can get something similar at Walmart, Target or Amazon.

For little ones in strollers, there are clip-on fans that run on batteries that can be super helpful. Be sure to bring extra batteries since you’ll probably be running the fans all day.

Clothes

It’s pretty common sense what to wear when it’s hot, but something just occurred to me recently as I was buying some work-out clothing for my husband: if it’s designed for exercise, it’ll probably work well for summers at Disney World as well. Duh, right? Not sure why that didn’t occur to me before.

I’m not into wearing athletic clothes outside of exercise but there are even t-shirts that are designed with special fabric to help with moisture. I plan to make a stop by Dick’s Sporting Goods before our summer trip to try it out.

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There are some ways to keep cool that other people seem to really love but we haven’t liked as much (I think my family just doesn’t like having wet stuff on their skin). Two of those include Frog Toggs Cooling Towels and cooling neck wraps that you can DIY with Disney fabric.

What do you do to keep cool? I’d love to hear your tips.

Over the years, I’ve accumulated lots of little tidbits of info that have helped make our trips better. Today, I have a video sharing 5 of those with you.

These tips actually will work for a lot of trips, not just Disney.

Check out my tips below and feel free to leave your own in the comments.